The rise of the extreme commuter

[swadbus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25498136

Most people hate commuting, a modern-day necessary evil. So why would anyone choose to build a lengthy commute into their lifestyle, asks Karen Gregor.

Marcus used to live in London, but moved to rural Suffolk to give his children a bucolic upbringing. In doing so, he created a commute of - on a good day - two hours and 45 minutes in one direction. On a bad day (snow on the line, the wrong kind of leaves) it can take him anything up to three and half hours from home to office.

The journey starts off by car - a quick spin through the lanes to the station. He hops on a single-engine train at 05:40 GMT, which rattles to Cambridge carrying exhausted-looking painter-decorators and builders - there are very few suits around at that unearthly hour. At Cambridge a speedy modern train takes him to King's Cross. From there, he has a 25-minute canal-side walk to his office.

 

[Bald Rick]

Hardly surprising that 'Marion' finds the train 'prohibitively expensive' if she is trying to use the Gatwick line from Essex. :roll:

 

[Polarbear]

Another slow news day at the BBC then...:roll:

My daily commute takes between 1'45" and 2'00" each way. I live in Chester & worked in my employer's local office there for many years. Due to many office closures over the past 5-6 years, I've been forced to re-locate twice & now work in Bootle. I wouldn't find it easy to re-locate as I look after an elderly relative in Chester.

My commute takes so long as I use the bus these days, purely on cost grounds. The train, whilst faster, it quite a bit more expensive & given the lack of real terms pay increases over the last three years (with another two years still to go), I'll have to stick with the long commute for the time being.

 

[High Dyke]

Depending on where i'm working my commute can range anywhere from 8 minutes up to an hour for a single journey.

 

[maniacmartin]

I could never do it. A long commute is a waste of time, expensive and sucks the life out of you imo.

 

[cf111]

I don't think I could cope with that. My journey to work is a brisk 10 minute walk across a field at the moment!

 

[87015]

I could never do it. A long commute is a waste of time, expensive and sucks the life out of you imo.

Yes, but most people are doing it out of little reasonable choice rather than a perfect array of options...

 

[Taunton]

What "rise"? I get the impression that the substantial rail commuting into London of say 40 years ago, from places like Hastings or Ramsgate (the latter much stimulated by the 1960 Kent Coast electrification) is actually well down on previous levels, principally due to the skyrocketing of fares.

Gerry Fiennes, onetime BR general manager of several of the regions, wrote of commuting daily from Aldeburgh in Suffolk to Liverpool Street in the 1960s. Drove to Saxmundham station on the East Suffolk line, thence about a 2 hour rail journey.

 

[Moonshot]

What "rise"? I get the impression that the substantial rail commuting into London of say 40 years ago, from places like Hastings or Ramsgate (the latter much stimulated by the 1960 Kent Coast electrification) is actually well down on previous levels, principally due to the skyrocketing of fares.

Gerry Fiennes, onetime BR general manager of several of the regions, wrote of commuting daily from Aldeburgh in Suffolk to Liverpool Street in the 1960s. Drove to Saxmundham station on the East Suffolk line, thence about a 2 hour rail journey.

So why is UK rail carrying record numbers of passengers nowadays? Have you got hard facts to suggest that substantial rail commuting to London is well down as you say ?

 

[RochdalePioneers]

Why do people do it? Often because it happens that way. I live in Stockton on Tees, took a job in Sheffield with the intention of relocating, then the housing market crashed. So I had a 200 mile a day commute by car instead until I couldn't stand it any longer and a job with a 20 mile a day commute came up.

I travel a lot in this job and do as much as I can by train. When I stay down in London I hook up with a mate who works in the City and commutes from Basingstoke. He used to work locally, took a London job, thought about moving and in the end decided the commute was least worst compared to living closer.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[bewildered]

My main office is in Leeds is a mere 15 commute by bus from a countryside(ish) village location. Having to work in London on a regular basis I prefer to do the commute in a single day rather than stay over and it's a killer on the odd day. I certainly couldn't do it on a daily basis. I find it a real struggle to work on busy trains due to all the distractions, I find it even harder in first class too.

 

[cf111]

My main office is in Leeds is a mere 15 commute by bus from a countryside(ish) village location. Having to work in London on a regular basis I prefer to do the commute in a single day rather than stay over and it's a killer on the odd day. I certainly couldn't do it on a daily basis. I find it a real struggle to work on busy trains due to all the distractions, I find it even harder in first class too.

The free wine impedes me too .

 

[Andrewlong]

I work in Croydon 3 days per week and commute from just east of Reading on the Waterloo line. Door to door about 2 hours each way. Why because it's a temporary assignment and it's paid for by my company.

Other two days I am in my local office which is 10 minutes from home.

I read the article and didn't envy the commuter who left home in East Anglia at silly o'clock to get to London and then had a 25 minute walk at the other end. Must be mad to do that everyday and then there is the cost!

 

[PHILIPE]

I remember a chap when I was working, who commuted from Bournemouth to Cardiff. He got up at 04 00, drove to Salisbury and caught train thence to Cardiff at 06 00. He arrived back home at about 21 00.

 

[dvboy]

So according to this, my 90 minute commute each way makes me an extreme commuter.

I'm kinda glad I only have 2 days of it left as I'm moving next week.

 

[3141]

I'm amused by the usual inaccurate journalistic clichés. There's the "single-engine train" which "rattles" to Cambridge, from where a "speedy modern train" takes him to Kings Cross. Actually his class 365 is only eight years younger than his 153. Another commuter may suffer from "the wrong kind of leaves"; but actually the journalist is suffering from the wrong sort of problem.

I agree that any increase in very long-distance commuting may well be due to the economic situation and the pressure to take or keep a job even if it means a lot of travelling. But there have always been some who have done this through choice. Twenty years ago or more I read about someone who travelled daily from Bembridge in the Isle of Wight to Waterloo because he liked his house and its location so much.

 

[westv]

My commute is about 3/12-4 hours but I only do it twice a week (there and back).

 

[306024]

With the clues given my guess is his journey could be Thurston dep 05.41, Cambridge 06.33 to 06.45, Kings Cross arr 07.38, which makes that short drive about 20 minutes. In which case good luck to him!

 

[anthony263]

I see regulars who commute from Swansea/Cardiff to London Paddington a journey time of around 3 hours from Swansea and 2 hours 5 minutes from Cardiff Central.

 

[Howardh]

Taking away the expense of a season-ticket, I suppose it would be possible for someone to live in flats/apartments in central Manchester to walk down to Piccadilly, around 6.45am and be in central London for 9, leave at 5 and be showered and ready for tea @ 7.30pm! Don't think I could do that for more than a month though!!

Wondering though how many BBC staff commute from London up to Media City every working day??

That length of journey ain't much more than someone trying to drive in to central Manchester from Chorley/Preston!!

 

[Darandio]

Wondering though how many BBC staff commute from London up to Media City every working day??

And most likely paid for by us!

I'm sure there are many still doing it, given the move wasn't that long ago.

 

[MP33]

When I worked for the Civil Service. There was an arrangement that if your job moved to give you a longer commute, you could claim expenses to cover the additional costs. There was someone who moved job from Norwich to Central London. He was claiming the expenses but staying with a relative in Inner London. He was caught out and prosecuted and sacked. I thought after this happened, that when I saw him in the building. His hours of work did not seem to reasonably match up with such a long commute.

 

[Darren R]

This is hardly a new phenomenon. When I lived in Leeds in the very late 80s/early 90s there were plenty of people who commuted to work in London every day. Their family life must have been pretty lousy during the week but it was cheaper doing that than living nearer to London. (And we are talking first class journeys on the Yorkshire Pullman services!)

Wondering though how many BBC staff commute from London up to Media City every working day??

Well judging by the several million quid they forked out on train fares last year I'd say quite a lot of them!

 

[Bishopstone]

When I saw the thread title, I thought it was about BNP members and Al Qaeda affiliates with season tickets.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Well judging by the several million quid they forked out on train fares last year I'd say quite a lot of them!

I have it on very good authority that they use as their ticket supplier an organisation which is routinely slammed on here for being more expensive that their adverts would lead you to think...

 

[Darren R]

I have it on very good authority that they use as their ticket supplier an organisation which is routinely slammed on here for being more expensive that their adverts would lead you to think...

Why does that not surprise me!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25498136

This report states that it was a personal decision to move to rural Suffolk...."To give the children a bucolic upbringing"

Nothing whatsoever to do with the employer relocating or requesting work in a far-off establishment that would force "extreme commuting".

 

[johnnychips]

As Paul says, there is a difference between job relocation and a voluntary choice. There used to be, and possibly still are, articles saying how Doncaster, Newark and Retford would become attractive commuter towns to London because of their relatively rural locations and low house prices. That may be so, but the season ticket price and about 90-150 minutes one-way journey time militates against that. There must be some people who do it, but I can't imagine it's very many.

 

[fowler9]

This is purely a personal feeling and I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong. I can understand people who spend months abroad and getting paid well and then come home and are free for months. I can understand people who are forced in to making crazy commutes just so that they have a job and can support either themselves or their family. I cannot understand people who choose to live miles away from their place of work, spend hours commuting and working while doing so perhaps under the illusion that having a member of the immediate family away for pretty much most of the year is somehow good for the family and that they aren't just addicted to the job. Again that is just my point of view and I am not saying they are wrong.

 

[34D]

I do not understand why these people don't get a cheap hotel room, at least some nights a week.

I have had roles where I've lived in Leeds and worked in London, and vice versa. In both cases, I found a hotel room much more sensible. I don't call being home from 10pm to 4:30am 'quality family time'.